1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to bathing fixtures such as bathtubs and shower stalls, more particularly to plastic or composite bathware comprising an embedded layer of magnetic material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The term “bathware” refers to bathing fixtures or bath fixtures such as bathtubs, shower pans, bathing receptacles, shower stalls, and enclosures. The term “plastic bathware” refers to non-metallic bathware made of thermoset organic resins with gel-coated surfaces including materials such as unsaturated polyester resins, polyurethanes or polyureas, or thermoplastic materials such as acrylic, ABS, PVC, PS, PE, HIPS, or PC. Plastic bathware may include fibers or other reinforcements.
Shower enclosures generally require means of preventing water overspray from leaving the enclosure. Various splash guard designs and flexible shower curtains of plastic film material have been used to prevent shower overspray from leaving shower enclosures. Shower curtains, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,212,326 and 5,953,771, as well as splash guards, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,835, have been equipped with magnets which are attracted to metal bathware which is typically made of cast iron or steel. The magnets in a shower curtain are typically located along the lower edge of the curtain, closest the floor to keep the curtain in a desired position during use. Magnets have also been placed in vertical curtain edges. Other devices or articles have been equipped with magnets for use in metal tubs, including: toys, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,091; and mats, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,353,943 and 6,292,957. Since magnets are useless with conventional plastic bathware, various adaptations for removably holding shower curtains, mats, or toys in place have been proposed, including clamps attached to walls, suction cups, hook and loop systems, strips of metal attached to walls or tubs, permanent adhesives, and the like, as reviewed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,957. Each of these approaches has disadvantages over the simple use of magnets to attach items to steel tubs. For example, anything permanently attached to the visible surface of the bathware, such as clamps or hooks or metal plates, may aesthetically degrade the appearance of the surface and make cleaning more difficult. Suction cups are not very effective on textured surfaces and also may be difficult to keep clean. Nevertheless, plastic bathware is desired for its light weight, design versatility, water resistance, and other functionality.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,892 discloses a water tub of acrylic and fiberglass having permanent magnets attached to the outside wall surface thereof or sandwiched in the fiberglass for applying a magnetic flux into a human's back placed adjacent to the tub wall.
What is needed is a new type of bathware which retains the advantages of plastic bathware yet functions with simple magnetic attachment systems as incorporated in shower curtains, toys, mats and the like for use with cast iron or steel bathware. It is heretofore not known or suggested to modify the plastic bathware itself to render it magnetic or magnetizable, thus rendering the magnets in bath accessories such as shower curtains once again useful for their intended purposes, such as holding a shower curtain in position. Thus, the prior art fails to disclose a bathing fixture constructed primarily of plastic laminate material and having a magnetic or magnetizable layer embedded therein.